Set quickly made it back to the cave, laying her down on the ground inside. He wanted to scream. He wanted to bite something. He wanted to destroy the entire world; his mate was dying. His perfect spouse. The woman who decided against all odds to live in a dark cave in the woods and didn't even dream of leaving it.
"Shit" he barked out loud, lightly smacking the side of her dirt stained face as she had fallen out of consciousness again.
Shuule sputtered twice as Set frantically filed through his Legacies. Nothing prepared him for this. Death was everywhere. Nobody had fixed something like this before. Spiraling into despair, ready to give up and cradle her in death, Shuule spoke.
"You have to stop it. Tie it off."
Without hesitation, Set pulled out the remainder of his snakeskin, zipping off a strip of it and wrapping it around Shuule's shoulder.
"Tighter," she gasped.
"You'll lose the arm" Set hissed, but did as instructed.
"I'll lose the arm anyway," she sobbed. She knew it was useless, but she wasn't going to die without fighting death first.
"There's a doctor in the City," she whimpered, but Set was already grabbing a deer skin rug, and was about to wrap Shuule in it.
"Yes," he agreed. "I don't know how fast I can get there."
"I thought we were close," Shuule mumbled, the world going dark again.
Set didn't answer her as he picked her up, kissing her forehead. They weren't that far, but he didn't want to blatantly say that he didn't think she'd make it through the day. Medicine and science was beyond him and most beastmen, but he knew the amount of blood that needed to be in a body, or more realistically, he knew how much was in the average body, and he swore he had seen most of hers on the jungle floor.
The rest was a blur for Set and non existent for Shuule, who had long since drifted back into unconsciousness, Set feared, for the final time. He traveled as fast as he could while carrying her, and for the first time in his life, making as much noise as he could. He understood the perimeters of the city well, and knew that there would be eagles patrolling farther out than even the regular limits of the rice and wheat fields. If they saw him, he could explain his case and maybe get her inside the city walls faster.
Sure enough, there were eventually black and gray dots in the sky. He knew help was coming, but a pit dropped in his stomach as well. Set looked down at the injured girl in his arms, for the first time in some time, and shuddered. Her fox ears were showing, as well as, for the first time he had seen while she was human, her tail. Her skin all over her body was flecked in orange. Beastmen males always died in their beast form - she was starting to loose her ability to stay human.
"Shuule, I'm so sorry, please, please try to put your ears away," He hissed. He didn't think she could hear him, but as the eagles started to descend on them, with a whimper, she complied.
----
Meanwhile in the City of Beasts, it was a crisp sunny day. It was still hot, but much cooler than it had been even just a few days ago. A young woman was laying out next to the waterhole, aimlessly scribbling on a piece of parchment with charcoal. Her auburn hair was braided and rolled into a bun on the top of her head, with white flowers woven in. Next to her, two leopards were stretched out, one very much asleep while the other, though relaxed, watched over their mate. The girl herself was about to doze off as well when a large black eagle suddenly burst through the trees, landing with a squawk while shifting into a dark haired man with a single face stripe.
"We need one of you," He barked at the leopards, both rolling one of their gold eyes towards the eagle.
"Rude!" scowled the girl, gripping her paper to her chest.
"Sorry, I'm sorry Anna," stammered the young man, quickly giving her a peck on the head, before kicking one of the leopards in the ribs. "GET UP, there's a snake with a female and he's insane."
The leopards were suddenly alert, Both turning into their human forms.
"How old? Are you sure he's one of ours?" asked one of them. He had two stripes on his face, while the other had just one, though they were both nearly identical otherwise.
"I DON'T KNOW, Iro. One of YOU has to talk to him. Get UP!"'
"I'll go," quipped the one striped leopard, getting ready to shift back to a cat to make a run towards the city limits, but the stronger leopard stopped him with his hand up, a smug smile on his face.
"No Third, I'll go," Iro exclaimed, the other two males rolling their eyes. The eagle and the other leopard would happily suffocate the boisterous Iro, but they both were also level headed enough to know this wasn't the moment. Biting his tongue, Ryan, the one striped leopard, hissed, but turned back into his beast and started to rub his body across Anna's side. The other two could go work for all he cared, underestimating him only meant more time with his spouse.
The eagle burst back into a bird, his large wings beating against the ground as he made his way up into the air, Iro turning into a leopard, while both made their way as fast as possible to the entrance fields.